The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) have arrested a man suspected to have connections to the Somalian terrorist organization known as Al-Shabaab, whose members are thought to be entering Malaysia posing as private college students and tourists.
The 34-year old man, arrested in Selangor, has been on Interpol wanted lists for alleged terror links.
According to sources speaking to The Star Online, six Al-Shabaab members who entered the country in the past few weeks have been tracked by the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Unit.
They said the group planned to set up a base in Malaysia to hide their members from the authorities.
Some of the members had left the country but police were monitoring those still here, the sources said.
The added that Al-Shabaab had no links to the militants arrested in Selangor and Kedah recently.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said the man, who was detained at about 4pm, was believed to be involved with the Al-Shabaab terrorist faction.
“He was previously charged with being involved in terror activities in East Africa and was listed in Interpol’s Red Notice (meaning he is being sought to be extradited to his country of origin).
“We are investigating his activities in Malaysia to uncover Al-Shabaab’s network whose members might be hiding or planning action that can threaten the country’s safety,” he said in a statement.
The man is being investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.
the Harakat Shabaab al-Mujahidin – commonly known as Al-Shabaab – is the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts that took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006.
Despite the group’s defeat by Somali and Ethiopian forces in 2007, Al-Shabaab – which is clan-based – has continued its violent insurgency in southern and central Somalia.
The group has exerted temporary and, at times, sustained control over strategic locations in those areas, using guerilla warfare and terrorist tactics.
